(March 31, 2015 – Princeton, New Jersey) Shortly after arriving at Princeton University, His Holiness the 17th Karmapa departed the welcome reception held in his honor at the home of the master of Forbes College at Princeton and headed to an underground cafe to attend an open mic night. The student-run weekly open mic has an explicitly spiritual focus, and students read their poetry, performed musical compositions, and read short stories reflecting their Christian, Jewish and Muslims faiths. One non-Buddhist student read a short story depicting her wait to meet His Holiness the Dalai Lama in India, and a Catholic magician made small objects multiply as a demonstration of how a sense of wonder can allow faith to increase and be shared. Bowls of chocolate chip cookies were passed around during this event, which provides an explicitly alcohol-free option for students seeking such an alternative. The evening event, which marked His Holiness’ first evening at Princeton, reflects the student…

The 17th Karmapa sits down in a chair in front of the words Harvard Divinity School. To the right, “Psalter 119, Hymns 146,145.” The spotlights are in his eyes—he points to his eyes with two fingers in a V and he looks like…who is it…familiar…oh no, when he does this he looks like Larry Wilmore! The big man sitting next to him is dressed in black with a red cape-like shawl—is it a Bishop? It is Harvard Divinity School. No, it’s his translator. He is being introduced now and taps his foot.. Now Janet Gyatso (Buddhist scholar) is speaking about his history, and is dwarfed by the giant golden eagle on the podium. I can see a little bit of her white hair over his eagle head. The first Karmapa was born in 1193. The 17th is moving around now in his chair as he hears about all his previous incarnations. The 16th Karmapa could communicate with birds and animals. He wanted pet shops in every city he visited. This Karmapa was born to nomads in 1985 and escaped to India in 2000. He received a “v…

Twenty-nine year old Tibetan man, Orgyen Trinley Dorje - the 17th Karmapa - is currently on a two-month lecture tour of prestigious US universities, including Harvard, Princeton and Yale. Tickets for all events were immediately sold out. Who is this monk who, after visiting the headquarters of Google and Facebook, spoke about the need for a kinder internet culture? Why are so many people seeking his advice and inspiration in the 21st Century? I first met the 17th Karmapa ten years ago at his monastery in the foothills of the Dhauladar mountains near Dharamsala, India. It was my first visit to India to study at a Hindu ashram on the Ganges. For the flight over, I spontaneously bought 'Dance of 17 Lives' by Mick Brown, a fascinating account of his life and the Karmapa lineage. It left a remarkable impression of a 'Living Buddha' and decided I had to visit him after the ashram. Even though I came from a secular, atheist back…

It’s a weekly event: a world leader is coming to Princeton’s campus! Insert illustrious title, sponsoring department, a moderator with a doctorate and a time and place to be there. Email lists are accurately alerted; details are scribbled or typed into calendars.

In his article “The Problem With Prestige” for the Nassau Weekly, Dayton Martindale questions our immediate instinct to line up for the old and the famous. We love snagging an orange ticket for Supreme Court Justices and big business leaders and past Presidents or Prime Ministers. They speak of their time (usually at an Ivy League or elite institution) and their career path that lead them to a title with capitalized letters. His Holiness the 17th Karmapa will speak on Wednesday. I lined up at noon when tickets became available, but was surprised to find that not all had been claimed. Perhaps you have not heard of the Karmapa. His full name is Ogyen Drodul Trinley Dorje t…

Karmapa stresses importance of caring for each other and the EarthMarch 30, 2015
By Michael Naughton, Harvard Divinity School Communications

Besides epidemics, wars, violence, and starvation, there is another source of disaster that is often overlooked: “a lack of love.” So said His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, to a capacity crowd at Harvard’s Memorial Church during his visit last week. “A lack of love can cause people to have no help when they need help, no friends when they need a friend,” Karmapa said. “So, in a sense, the most dangerous thing in the world is apathy. We think of weapons, violence, warfare, disease as terrible dangers, and indeed they are, but we can take measures to avoid them. But once our apathy takes hold of us, we can no longer avoid it.” The 29-year-old Karmapa leads the 900-year-old Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism, guiding millions of Buddhists around the world. Born to a nomad family in eastern Tibet, the Karmapa was chosen a…

His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa Ogyen T. Dorje spoke about the interdependence of all living creatures and the dangers of apathy at a lecture on Thursday. The Karmapa, the leader of one sect of Buddhism, stopped at Harvard on his two-month tour of the United States to deliver a lecture on “Caring for Life on Earth in the Twenty-first Century.”

David N. Hempton, dean of Harvard Divinity School, welcomed the Karmapa and referred to the school’s longstanding relations with representatives of Tibetan Buddhism. He made specific reference to the 16th Karmapa’s visit to Harvard in 1976 and the 14th Dalai Lama’svisit in 2009. The Karmapa, who gave his lecture via a translator, began his talk with an allusion to a visit in his past life and said he was very glad to be back at Harvard. He recounted an experience from his youth in which he saw the tribe of nomads he was raised with suffocate an animal for its meat. He said he experienced an in…

(March 27, 2015 – Cambridge, Massachusetts) The 17th Gyalwang Karmapa this afternoon signed the famous Harvard Guest Book, marking a successful conclusion to his two-day visit to the country’s oldest university. Yet his activities in the Boston area were not complete until he had met with the city’s Tibetan community. Harvard Divinity School graciously offered a space for the Tibetan community to come to meet with the Gyalwang Karmapa. As His Holiness the Karmapa descended the stairs to the hall that had been prepared for the event, a group of Tibetans sang to greet him. The heart-wrenching sound of Tibetan singing echoed through the stairwell as if bouncing off towering mountainsides, and for one brief moment the distance from the culture’s native home seemed to disappear. Since the meeting was scheduled for a weekday afternoon, some 300—or about half of the 600-plus members of this hardworking community were expected to attend. However, after the hall had filled to capacity, several h…